What Other Service Areas Should You Benchmark? (1 of 4)
by Service 800, Inc.

The last Benchmark Benefits series focused on the importance of benchmarking service performance information. We know that a true benchmark must be timely, objective, consistent, valid, and confidential to participants.

Once you’ve successfully completed your first benchmark, you can expand your benchmarking efforts to maximize your service performance across the board. For example, benchmarks in specific geographic areas allow you to compare your service performance to providers in that region. You might also consider measuring customer loyalty, along with customer satisfaction. This series of articles will help you better understand some of these options.

The four-week series includes the following articles:

• What Types of Benchmarks are Available?
  
• How is Customer Satisfaction Different from Customer Loyalty?
  
• Are There Unique Considerations When Measuring Service Satisfaction Abroad?
  
• What Are Some Ways to Overcome Cultural Issues When Measuring Service Satisfaction Abroad?

What Types of Benchmarks are Available?

Performance benchmarking has become a key ingredient in running an efficient service organization. Let’s review our definition of benchmark…“A point of reference from which customer satisfaction service performance measurements may be made.”

Keep in mind, it is possible to benchmark just about anything as long as you have enough participants. A good benchmark needs at least five participants to be valid and ensure the confidentiality of data. In addition, the measurement criteria must be the same.

To help you further streamline your service operations, consider using benchmarks that measure industry-specific attributes, particular regions, or more than just satisfaction.

SSPA SoftwareMetric Benchmark
The SSPA SoftwareMetric Benchmark is designed to help SSPA members quickly and easily gather satisfaction information from customers who recently had a service experience. Customer comments and ratings of service characteristics, such as solution time, completeness, and professionalism are reported back to individual clients. Each month SERVICE 800 consolidates the data, which remains confidential on an individual participant basis, into an industry benchmark.

Again, participating companies can determine their service strengths and weaknesses by making comparisons to industry averages. Remember, you can measure satisfaction all day long, but it is meaningless unless you have a base or benchmark for comparison.

ServiceMetric Benchmark
This benchmark is similar in design to the SoftwareMetric Benchmark; however, the ServiceMetric Benchmark is for hardware manufacturers and service providers. The questions pertain to hardware service events.

While this benchmark is very much like the software benchmark, the components of a software service event are in some ways different from a hardware service event. For example, hardware companies have parts availability to consider, while this attribute would not be of interest to software manufacturers. Also, many hardware events take place on-site at the customer’s location. For these reasons, a software company would not want to participate in a hardware benchmark. The comparisons would not be apples-to-apples, thus the benchmark would not be valid.

MedicalMetric Benchmark
Again, the MedicalMetric Benchmark is similar to those mentioned above, but provides feedback to medical technology hardware manufacturers and service providers. Because customer expectations in the medical industry might be different from those in other industries, a medical benchmark should be limited to companies in the industry. For example, customers in the medical industry might demand faster response times because lives are at stake. It would not be fair or valid to compare computer hardware companies to the same standards.

European Benchmark
This benchmark helps manufacturers and service providers in Europe gather and benchmark customer satisfaction data. This program compares service performance on a country-by-country basis and is ideal for a company doing business in multiple European countries. Why is this important? With so many different cultures, customer expectations differ from country to country. For example, customers in England may expect quicker repair times than those in Spain.

Customer Loyalty Benchmark
Finally, your company might want to consider measuring customer loyalty along with satisfaction. To measure loyalty, your provider will have to use a separate set of questions, such as, “How do you rate your overall satisfaction with our service?” “Would you purchase from us again?” “Would you recommend us to a friend or associate?” A high score on all questions results in a high customer loyalty index.

Next Week - How is Customer Satisfaction Different from Customer Loyalty?

To Contact Us — To discuss this topic, any other Benchmark Benefits article, or to provide topic suggestions, please contact Jan DeMatteo at jan@service800.com.

For More Information — For additional information about the SSPA SoftwareMetric Customer Satisfaction Benchmark, SERVICE 800, or other benchmark programs, visit www.service800.com/benchmarkprograms.asp.

About SERVICE 800
Founded in 1989, SERVICE 800 designs and administrators real-time customer satisfaction measurement programs, helping service organizations follow up with their customers within hours or days of service events. The company utilizes a distinctive follow up telephone interview process along with e-mail, web, and other survey techniques to measure customer satisfaction. With offices in Minneapolis and London, SERVICE 800 has been measuring customer satisfaction for corporations throughout the world for over a decade.